


The Last

by JoAsakura



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 18:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoAsakura/pseuds/JoAsakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Citadel DLC spoilers</p><p>Calls back to "Name"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last

Shepard blinked awake, sprawled on the big couch by the fireplace.

Anderson's... HIS... apartment was quiet, except for the crackling flames. Too quiet after the night before. So quiet that even the ghosts of the music and laughter were absorbed into soundless nothing.

Slowly, Shepard sat up, rubbing his head. He hadn't remembered lying down again. Hadn't remembered Kaidan leaving with the others. "Need to get to the Normandy." He muttered, picking at his fatigues. "Work to do."

It was so quiet.

He pulled himself off the couch and wandered through the apartment. It would be a while before he could come back here. But he would. Maybe finally retire from the Alliance after the war, be a SPECTRE full time. He and Kaidan dividing their time between the Citadel and a home overlooking English Bay.

It was too quiet. 

Shepard stalked over to the windows and tapped the blinds controls, wondering where the constant background noise of skycars and holoads was.

There was nothing, when the blinds opened. A faintly luminescent grey filled the windows: dim and silent. 

He looked around the apartment, at the beer bottles still strewn on the floor, the picture of his team still proudly on the wall. His only civilian shoes were at the bottom of the stairs, where he'd kicked them off some time during the party, slightly before Kaidan had used a judicious application of [lift] to carry his cybernetic rear off to the bedroom.

It still smelled like James' huevos rancheros. Like EDI's curry. There were scuffs on the table where Jack had danced, and holes in the wall where Wrex had missed shooting a bottle, and glass on the floor where Javik hadn't. Marks where Garrus had tried to weaponise the furniture.

But it was so quiet. 

Until "You have a new message." The assistant VI's pleasant voice suddenly said, and Shepard turned with a gasp, heart gripping in his chest. He padded back to the den, where the little green light blinked.

A part of him didn't want to touch the terminal, but he did anyways, brushing his fingers over the keys.

[COME OUTSIDE, SHEPARD] The message read, no header, no sig. He paused, and looked around the room, at the books lining the walls, Sam's trophy on the shelf next to the plush Zaeed had won for him.

"I don't want to go." He said to no one in particular. "I feel like I just got here."

[COME OUTSIDE, SHEPARD] The message hadn't changed on the screen, characters simple and insistent.

He took a deep breath, feeling a tightness in chest that threatened to break if he wasn't careful, and turned. Shoulders squared, back straight, he marched himself to the front door.

(this is a joke of EDI's. She overrode the window controls to mess with me. They're all going to be out here waiting for me and they'll laugh and I'll scowl and we'll get back to work and...)

The door slid open, and Shepard stepped out onto the white sands of an alien shore. Blue water lapped softly at the edge, and the breeze was warm. 

"Siha." Thane's familiar rasp at his side, and Shepard slowly met his gaze. "Welcome home."

"I'm not finished yet, Thane." Shepard said softly, squinting out at the endless sea. "The reapers.."

"Are defeated. The war is won, siha." Thane's long fingers twined with his, and squeezed gently. "you fought to the last and your sacrifice won the lives of so many."

In the distance, a beautiful female drell waved, her scales shining in the sun. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Shepard paused, looking back to the door. "..but.. but if I go.." He squeezed his eyes shut, remembering cold and ash in the London air. "I told Kaidan I would be waiting for him when.. when this was.."

"And you will, siha." Thane's voice was terrible in it's gentleness. "We will all be waiting for him here."

"It was a good ride." Shepard said, turning away from the door and giving Thane's hand a squeeze back.

"The best." The drell agreed, and led him down the shore.


End file.
